World's End

Chapter Eight

"And why would you want to do that?" Marissa asked, putting her hands on her hips. Jax's eyes darted angrily to Lincoln, then back to her. "I'm not going to let you kill him."

"I'm not going to kill him." There was an unspoken yet in the air. Marissa shifted her weight so that she was more leaning towards Lincoln so that way of Jax changed his mind in the next few seconds, she could hopefully stop him, despite the struggle she and Ellie Rae had had holding him back. "I don't want to be by myself anymore." Ellie Rae looked at him sadly and looked at Marissa.

"He can't come with us." Lincoln murmured, looking at Jax as he spoke.

"If you don't let me, come with you, I'll just follow you."

"What are you, a lost puppy?" Marissa folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes. "Give us a moment." Jax nodded and she turned to the other two and looked between them.

"I can see the cogs turning in your brain." Ellie Rae cocked her head. "You think it's a clever idea, don't you?"

"He clearly knows the Wilderness-."

"Expanse!" She heard Jax yell. "Sorry, I'll go further away." Marissa waited for him to move further away.

"- 'Expanse' better than anyone."

"He's really good at creating things." Ellie Rae offered up, and Marissa nodded her agreement. Lincoln groaned.

"The guy is a nutcase, and I blew up his car." Marissa raised an eyebrow. "I just feel like you guys keep forgetting he's painted a target on me."

"We haven't forgotten." Ellie Rae reassured him.

"It's almost like a reward to remember

"That's not reassuring."

"Point is," Marissa glared at him. "He's useful. And if I'm honest, I don't entirely feel happy leaving him on his own again. Poor guy needs to be around people." Ellie Rae nodded sympathetically.

"He has supplies. He knows the land. He's also good with cars... And I say cars loosely because The Duke may have been an exception to the rule." Ellie Rae supplied. Marissa nodded her agreement.

"Look, we'll tell him he can come with us, but he can't kill you. Besides, I don't think he would kill you," Marissa thought our loud. "He's just angry." Lincoln rubbed his face with his hands.

"I'm not going to get much of a say on this, am I?" Ellie Rae smiled and shook her head. "Damnit." It almost came out like a whine. Marissa patted him hard on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine. Jax!" She called for him to come back. He had wandered a way down the street and instead of walking back and making them wait, he came at full speed.

"We gotta run!" He yelled, looking behind him briefly as he raced towards the trio. Marissa cocked her head. Ellie Rae seemed to get it first. There was the sound of a car moving slowly and the someone yelled.

"Run, run, run, run!" Ellie Rae started running, Jax quickly catching up to them. Marissa grabbed Lincolns arm and started running, partially dragging him as he slowly started to engage and start running as well, allowing Marissa to let him go and push herself to move. She looked back briefly and groaned; regretting having done so.

"They have a tank?" She yelled to Jax who looked behind him briefly and started to run harder.

"All I saw was the big gun, okay?!" He yelled back at her. Marissa growled and over the pumping of her heart and pounding of her feet, she heard the tank gun move and be positioned.

"Scatter!" She yelled and they split, Ellie Rae and Lincoln splitting off down one street, Jax and Marissa turning down another, Marissa almost falling on her butt as her boots skidded on the ground when she rounded a corner. Jax grabbed her arm and pulled her up and pulled her around the corner of a building just as the tank fired and the building close to where Lincoln and Ellie Rae had gone down. The tank fired again and hit the building just beside the one Jax and Marissa were hiding. They both fell forward as the blast knocked into their wall and they both fell forward, Marissa rolling to protect her spine from any falling bricks and debris.